The BRP Sierra Madre which was deliberately grounded to serve as an outpost of the Philippine Navy at the Ayungin Shoal.
CAGAYAN de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez today urged the defense-military establishment to stop exposing civilian boats and their crew to danger in resupplying troops stationed at Ayungin Shoal off Palawan.
He made the appeal in the wake of what he described as the “newest incident of bullying and harassment” by the Chinese Coast Guard of civilian boats transporting provisions to a small military contingent in Ayungin.
“Let’s end this practice. I do not see the rationale for using civilian boats and crew in delivering supplies to our soldiers whose presence in that remote part of the West Philippine Sea symbolizes our national sovereignty and territorial integrity there,” he said.
He said the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines should from now on airdrop supplies.
“We should use the air assets of the Air Force and the Navy to drop the things our patriotic soldiers in Ayungin need,” he said.
“The danger Air Force and Navy personnel would face in those missions is the same as that civilian boat crew have to contend. But unlike civilians who are just doing a civic duty, it is the responsibility of the military to resupply our troops in Ayungin and protect our country’s national sovereignty and territory,” Rodriguez stressed.
He added that the military could use a number of strategies in airdropping supplies.
He suggested that decoy planes could be deployed and military videographers and photographers could document the resupply missions.
He said the DND-AFP could even request the country’s allies like the United States to fly a surveillance aircraft to monitor the airdrops.
He noted that in one re-provisioning run, a US plane was spotted in the Ayungin area.
The Mindanao lawmaker pointed out that it would be difficult for China’s People’s Liberation Army and Coast Guard to block Philippine planes dropping supplies to Filipino soldiers in Ayungin.
“They would have to intentionally crash their aircraft with ours or shoot down our planes. We don’t want that to happen, but if it happens, then our Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States will come into play,” he said.
Rodriguez said Ayungin Shoal is clearly part of Philippine territory under international law.
It is about 200 miles from Palawan, and more than 1,000 miles from the nearest Chinese island, he said.
“We should not be avoiding the Chinese there. They should be the ones avoiding us in our territory. In fact, they should stop intruding in Ayungin and Scarborough Shoal off Pangasinan and Zambales, and any part of our 200-mile exclusive economic zone,” he said.
